Designer of digital products for almost a decade.

I specialize in creating complex digital products that are informed and refined by data-driven insights

Design Philosophy

  • I approach work with a strong emphasis on functionality over form.

    I believe that in order to create great products for the users the product needs to be useful. Only then the product will become great and timeless.

  • I love to educate my clients and people I work with about design, methods and processes I utilize.

    This helps others to understand each step within design process better and everyone is on the same page.

    I also love defining processes and create foundations for design teams.

  • I strongly believe that design needs to be experienced not looked at. That’s why I put a very strong emphasis on prototypes and interactivity in my work.

Work Experience & Skills

Toptal Senior Product Designer July 2022 - Present

CareerFoundry UI Design Mentor Nov 2020 - April 2022

Infobip Product Designer Nov 2019 - Dec 2020

Hexis UX/UI Designer Feb 2016 - Jun 2019

mokkup Senior Product Designer & Owner Jan 2020 - Present

Fortunian Lead Product Designer Jan 2021 - Jan 2022

iOLAP Product Designer Jul 2019 - Nov 2019

Design Tools

Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (XD, Photoshop), Framer, Google Analytics, Notion, Miro, Jira, Confluence, AI (GPT-4, Midjourney), HTML/CSS.

Product Design 

Product Thinking, Product Development, User research, Market research, Design Systems, Accessibility, Wireframing, Prototyping, Visual Design, Interaction Design, Design-to-Development Handoff, UI Design.

People management

Coaching & Mentoring, Stakeholder Management, Leadership, Communication, and Human Resources.

Research & Testing 

User Interviews, Surveys, Usability Testing, A/B Testing, Accessibility testing, Persona Development, User Stories, User Story Mapping, UX Research.

3 facts

  1. I have 3 cats, German boxer dog and a slider turtle

  2. Happily married

  3. I own a 32-year-old, white Golf 2

Selected work

Redesign of contact center analytics used by team leaders inside contact centers to track agents’ performance and utilization. The company I worked for had developed a big B2B SaaS platform that provides various services for businesses.

Role: Product Designer | Duration: 12 months

SaaS B2B Product Analytics Dashboard

I designed a website for CampMap that strictly followed their brand guidelines, ensuring visual cohesion. Next, I developed their product for two specific target audiences, addressing each group's unique needs.

Role: Digital Product Designer | Duration: 12 months

Comprehensive Product Design for CampMap Services

Recognizing the necessity for users to easily explore all pertinent products and services offered by the platform, I initiated a series of usability studies and discovery workshops aimed at achieving this objective.

Role: Senior Product Designer | Duration: 6 months

Data driven product design journey for Employee Management Platform

Blog

  • Bridging the Gap: Overcoming Collaboration Challenges Between Designers and Managers

    In the fast-paced world of product development, collaboration between product designers and product managers is crucial for creating successful and user-centric products. However, this collaboration isn't always seamless.

    Read Now

  • Never Give Up

    The Journey of Perseverance: A Tale of Aspiring Designers. And please pardon the playfully cheesy title; it's a lazy Sunday, and creativity takes a day off, but the inspiring stories within these lines will light a creative fire for anyone dreaming of becoming a designer. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

    Read Now

  • My first project as a lead designer was this one and I was a junior back then

    Live Speed Networking Events - I had no idea what I was doing. You will notice that I was pretty much a full-stack designer on this one. There is a ton of mistakes and here is my case study on the process which I wrote ages and ages ago. I thought It would be funny to reflect on this and to see how much I grew since then.

    Read Now

  • My Little Rant About Social Media

    I really liked the whole “social network” idea in the beginning. I was present on Facebook when it first started to become popular here where I live (around 2006. or 2007.). I met some new friends, but it mostly served me as a chatting platform to stay in touch with people, like my friends or relatives who are far away. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

    Read Now

Talks and conferences

Over the last 3 years I spoke at a couple of events, and even gave interviews. You can check them out below.

More than a designer, she is the best creative partner.

"Matea is an A+ talent and is an absolute pleasure to work with! In addition to her top notch creative skills, she is very resourceful. She was able to find solutions to several complex design challenges, including creating a full app user interface and experience, interface graphic design, website design, promotional videos, and other marketing materials. She can create new assets from scratch or modify existing assets and has the correct judgement to combine both to deliver fast, high quality results. She was also able to bring on other professionals to help in specific technical areas, such as converting her designs into a website. She even recruited a friend to work as an actress for a marketing video we created. Matea is a masterful communicator and has great judgement and wisdom. More than a designer, she is the best creative partner you can find. Simply put, she is the very best of the best.”

— Samir Patodia, Upwork Client

Creative professional willing to improve continuously.

Matea is a highly skilled design professional dedicated to her craft and capable of sharing that knowledge because of her excellent public speaking skills. She easily aligns with the stakeholders, understands, and provides a valuable solution for a given problem with a high-quality standard. Collaboration with her is easy because she asks, offers, and acts upon constructive feedback, which is an outstanding virtue for a creative professional willing to improve continuously, which is her forte.

— Irja Straus, Lead QA Engineer @ Microblink

One dedicated and talented individual.

Matea grew from a junior to a highly competitive designer in the industry in just a few years. Her impressive growth comes from her persistence and courage to face problems and fears directly, which I greatly respect. Her fun attitude makes her a great colleague, but most importantly an approachable collaborator. Matea is one dedicated and talented individual and I would gladly recommend her design services.

— Elmas Okic, Senior Product Designer

She is the mentor any student would like to have.

Matea is a fantastic professional who brings all of the skills and expertise in UX/UI design. It was indeed a pleasure being mentored by Matea during my UI design program at Careerfoundry. Under her guidance, I gained a variety of skills that help me in every aspect. Her friendly attitude always made me feel welcome during our calls, she was encouraging, supportive and gave me previous advice about design. She is the mentor any student would like to have.

— Celine Perruchoud, UI Design Student @ CareerFoundry